Home Book: 'Kitchen Remodeling Projects'

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, August 17, 2007

Here is just about everything you probably should know before vaulting into a kitchen remodel. But you also should know better than to bet on it -- kitchens being kitchens.

Hanging preassembled wall cabinets as a solo handyman offers a particularly daunting challenge, enabled here with the use of a special lift (look for one at a rent-a-tool outlet).

The old-fashioned cheaper alternative is to nail or screw a ledger board to the wall at the height required to support the unit's back, and couple that with at least one floor-to-cabinet 2-by-4 for the front end. This should hold things in place just long enough for you to get a couple of mounting screws.

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While you're at it, carefully consider under-cabinet lighting.

"Paired with a dimmer," the editors say, "low-voltage fixtures are the easiest way to light up a work-surface or to set the mood."

In typical Fine Homebuilding fashion, the steps for both projects are detailed clearly in photos and text.

Next comes sink installation, but hold your horses if you don't already have a countertop in mind. Fully outlined is a do-it-yourself concrete countertop. It's truly a challenge of challenges, and you might be well-advised to practice on one for the garage before committing yourself to one for the kitchen. In this case, the author had a concrete expert at his elbow. No fair.

As an option, "Installing Laminate Countertops" shows you how to manipulate the less-expensive, less-bothersome ready-made tops (although there is more than a little tinkering involved).

If thoughts of a kitchen remodel do not meet your sanity quotient, this edition may nevertheless serve as a guide to what's behind and within those existing cabinets, and how they connect to make this work-a-day area the smooth operator you expect it to be.

David Getts' article, "Getting Appliances to Fit," provides diagrammatic proof that these things don't work solely on the wiggle of a nose or a snap of some fingers, but require certain systems to be in place and where they are accessed.

A suggested source for appliance measurements of all kinds is www.dexpress.com,which is fee-based for professionals, but allows homeowners a limited peek for free. Click on "register here" or try www.dexpress.com/guest You may find access somewhat frustrating. (This Sore Thumb needed a couple of tries and an e-mail to the company before the thing opened its secret doors.)

Also featured is "The Challenges of Painting Kitchens," the elbow-greaseheavy, messy approach to spiffing things up without having to break the bank. In summary: Scrub, scrub some more and rinse and dry, then sand lightly, making certain all the dust is vacuumed up and wiped off before a primer is applied, and then two coats of a non-latex but water-soluble or oil-based paint.